Air beds with pneumatic bladders where the user controls pressures for comfort are known. These devices are described in several U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,633 which issued on Dec. 18, 1990; U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,363 which issued on Dec. 7, 1993, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,726 which issued on Nov. 29, 1994, all to Robert Chaffee. These three patents are hereby incorporated by reference herein as if laid out in full.
The above inventions include a valve assembly with motorized inflater attached such that the attaching of the motor activates the inflation without needing an activating switch. The inflation is fast and will continue until the motorized inflator is removed. The inflator is designed with a large volume of air flow but at a small pressure differential across the impeller. In this case when the air pressure in the bladder may only be about one pound per square inch (1 psi) the inflator cannot push more air into the bladder. A larger valve is incorporated into the valve assembly for deflation. In some embodiments, deflation is achieved by removing the motorized inflator and opening the entire valve assembly via a hinge for quick deflation. A limitation of these devices is the requirement that the hinged opening for deflation involves a second sealing surface. There is a concern since each sealing surface is susceptible to leaking--fewer sealing surfaces are preferred.
Further limitations of these prior art systems, due to the two sealing surfaces, is that the valves are larger, have more parts, are more expensive, are more complex, and are less reliable.
In the prior art there is disclosed a electrically activated (via a switch in a 120 VAC power line), plug-in, motorized inflator that is attached to a valve in an air bed. The activating switch may be constructed and arranged with a pressure relief mechanism incorporated into the valve. The user can incrementally increase or decrease the pressure by activating the switch or the relief mechanism, respectively, to suit the comfort of the user.
It is an object of the present invention to provide one valve that performs three functions. A first function allows fast automatic inflation; a second function provides comfort control; and the third functions allows fast deflation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a single sealing surface while still providing the above three functions.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide means for comfort control by incrementally opening the valve to release pressure very slowly or more quickly depending upon what is desired.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a releasable locking system for bladder deflation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a reliable valve assembly with an adapter set that allows inflation from a variety of sources having different nozzle sizes, e.g. the Aero.RTM. pump, vacuum cleaners, hair dryers, and the like.